A-K Valley football notebook: Highlands secures rare shutout victory in postseason

By: George Guido
Saturday, November 1, 2025 | 4:06 PM

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Highlands’ 14-0 victory over Derry on Friday marked the first time the Golden Rams shut out a WPIAL playoff opponent.

Before that, the lowest points yielded by Highlands in a playoff game was a 7-6 victory over West Allegheny in 2003.

The last time an Alle-Kiski Valley team pitched a playoff shutout was Springdale’s 28-0 victory at West Greene in 2021.

Har-Brack, a predecessor school of Highlands, played a scoreless tie against Donora in the 1953 WPIAL title game at Pitt Stadium.

Highlands (8-3) next will head to Beaver County to play No. 3 Central Valley (6-4) at 7 p.m. Friday in the Class 3A quarterfinals.

A-K Valley connection

Chartiers-Houston ended its WPIAL record 14-game playoff losing streak Friday with a 26-21 victory over South Side. The Bucs hadn’t won a playoff game since defeating Clairton, 14-7, in a 2000 opening-round game.

Kiski Area now owns the longest current playoff losing streak at 13 games after Friday’s 28-8 loss to Shaler.

Kiski River rising

The Kiskiminetas River might be one of the shallowest in Western Pennsylvania, but the schools that surround the stream had deep talent this season.

For the first time, all four high schools that abut the river made the playoffs.

Kiski Area, Leechburg and Apollo-Ridge made the WPIAL playoffs simultaneously for the first time. Plus, River Valley, the recent merger of Saltsburg and Blairsville, made its first PIAA District 6 playoff trip.

Only Apollo-Ridge got past the first round among the four schools, defeating Riverside, 28-7. Kiski Area lost to Shaler, 28-8; Leechburg lost to Neshannock, 49-14; and River Valley was routed by Bellwood-Antis, 42-16.

River Valley is the sixth different school coach Ed Dalton has led to the playoffs. Previously, he piloted Purchase Line and Altoona to the District 6 playoffs, and Mt. Pleasant, McGuffey and Trinity to the WPIAL postseason.

No. 7 Apollo-Ridge (8-3) will visit No. 2 Western Beaver (9-1), the Midwestern Athletic Conference champion, in the Class 2A quarterfinals at 7 p.m. Friday.

Top test awaits Freeport

Freeport has little time to celebrate Friday night’s 35-27 first-round victory over Beaver.

Top-seeded Avonworth (10-0), the defending WPIAL champion, awaits.

The Lopes will host No. 8 Freeport (8-3) at 7 p.m. Friday in the WPIAL Class 3A quarterfinals.

Avonworth was the PIAA runner-up a year ago and has rolled through the regular season in 2025, averaging nearly 40 points per game while allowing 8.3.

The Lopes have outscored their last three opponents — McGuffey and playoff qualifiers North Catholic and Beaver — by a combined 140-17.

Burrell’s record setter

Burrell sophomore quarterback Antonio Perkins ran for 220 yards Friday night to end the year with 1,872 yards, breaking the school single-season rushing record of 1,794 yards set by Cole Bush in 2012.

The Bucs’ season came to an end with a 56-21 loss to North Catholic. They finished 4-7 overall.

Sports editor Bill Hartlep contributed.

Tags: Apollo-Ridge, Burrell, Freeport, Highlands, Kiski Area